Jonathan Fuchs

I used to hate Spotify. The constant backlash of it from my favorite artists and its limited selection of underground, DIY artists always turned me off from using the service, so the first time I ever did one of these was torturous, with Spotify recommending me one awful acoustic coffee shop track after another. I told myself I would never use it again.

Then my hard drive crashed from having too much music on it.

Now I am an avid Spotify user, using it to get into all sorts of bands and listening to every new record that comes out because I now finally have the access to it. Since I now use it daily, I was confident that my Discover Weekly playlist was going to give me plenty of great tunes, and boy was I right.

This track starts off strong, with calming synths that sounds straight out of a 90s computer game and a melody that sounds like a beachy LCD Soundsystem song. It’s not exactly my cup of tea, but it’s very fun and theatrical, and I’d definitely recommend it to others.

I knew about Half Waif’s work in the past, but never gave it a good chance in the past, so I was excited to listen this song. I thought it was great, with its pleasant, spot-on vocal harmonies and its delicate yet in-your-face beat. Half Waif is someone I’m definitely checking out in the future.

Gents is a duo from Denmark, which makes a lot of sense from the very beginning of the track because the singer’s accent is really thick. It reminded me a lot of the newest Porches album with the track’s synthetic drumbeats and the very thick synths, with a slick bass line and a familiar vocal delivery following it. The chorus isn’t my favorite thing in the world, since the mixing at that part isn’t the best, but it’s still really fun.

I remember this track ending up on the last Discover the Lobster, with Cailynn calling it repetitive and dubstep-like, which wasn’t her thing. For me, this is exactly what I needed, as it was the best track on this entire playlist. I absolutely loved the insane atmosphere of the track, it brought me into another world and the sampling and production were genius. I’ve been a fan of Iglooghost’s work in the past, so really there’s no surprise that I loved it as much as I did.

I’ve given Raury a lot of chances in the past and each time he’s done nothing for me. I think he’s talented, but I’d just rather listen to someone else. “NEVERALONE” is a good example of this, as it sounded pretty good as a track but still felt really bland and easily forgettable.

The guitar that introduces this song sound a lot like the twang Mac DeMarco is known for. It suddenly meets the vocals, which are hard to hear but sound really good with the guitar and make for a really nice pair. It’s very calming and makes for a pleasant track.

I knew about Anna Wise because of her several fantastic contributions on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, so I was looking forward to hearing this track. It’s very catchy and poppy, but lacks a certain punch that I heard in her TPAB features. Nevertheless, she’s still someone I’ll check out in the future.

I really, really dug this track. This guy’s voice sounds like a cross between The Weeknd and Pinky from Pinky and the Brain, and, for some strange reason, I’m really into it. The instrumentals are super spacey and the lyrics about his life are really interesting.

This song starts off with loud, slamming guitars, feeling like a Nothing track. Then suddenly, everything quiets down and introduces the singer with a really pleasant melody, then goes back into insanity with plenty of screaming and loudness for everyone. It’s really beautiful. Listen to this when you’re really angry, it’ll take it all out for you.

You can only really describe this song in one word: “Banger.” It begins like your average rave-EDM track, with the typical epic synth intro and drum buildup, but surprises you with a drop reminiscent of a cross between TNGHT and anyone on PC Music.

For people like me who rarely use Spotify, Discover Weekly is a really weird experience. Because of my lack of activity, Spotify thinks I like acoustic pop that acts as the soundtrack for YouTube “pranksters” who just harass women on the street.

The Diamonds in the Rough:

“Afterglow” by Wilkinson – As soon as the song started, I immediately held my head in my hands in pure embarrassment in the terrible lyrics. But as soon as I heard the faint sound of drums, I knew that this was going to be good, and as soon as the song dropped, I couldn’t stop dancing. Good dance track all around.

“Ulay, Oh” by How I Became the Bomb – This band reminds me a lot of The Flaming Lips if they kept their sound from Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. It had some interesting synths and drums, and everything sounded really nice and smooth.

“Cavalier” by James Vincent McMorrow – This was probably the best song I listened to on this playlist, which makes sense because James Vincent McMorrow was one of the only names I could recognize. His high-pitched vocals were smooth and relaxing and his synths were brilliant. The drums also had effects that were hard to describe but very nice to listen to. This and How I Became the Bomb are most likely the only two artists I’ll go back to.

Close But No Cigar:

“Made for You” by Alexander Cardinale – This sounded fine, but it was like literally everything I’ve ever heard on the radio. If I didn’t know the artist, I would’ve thought this was Phillip Phillips or whoever else is relevant.

“Overload (The Chainsmokers Remix)” by Life of Dillon – For those who don’t remember, The Chainsmokers are responsible for the song “#Selfie” that went viral because it was terrible, so I groaned when I saw their name. The rhythms on the song were interesting and the melodies were nice, but its repetitive style got pretty boring.

“I Do” by Holley Maher – The lyrics on this song were pure garbage, but the vocals were pleasant enough to encourage me to not just skip to the next song. I also really liked the production on the guitar, pianos and drums.

“It’s Just a Prank, Bro”:

“I’m Still Here” by Benjy Davis – The beginning of this song was great; I loved the vocals and guitar, and his melody was nice. Then the chorus kicked in, and for a second I thought that a random tab on my laptop was playing a trailer to a John Green movie. The cheesy lyrics made me sick and its way too clean production made me stop the song before it ended.

“Paradise (On Earth)” by Cris Cab – I have a feeling that Spotify hates me because this has some of the worst singing I’ve ever heard in my life. It sounded like if Adam Levine caught a head cold before a live show. This was generic, boring and just plain awful.

“Jackpot” by Jocelyn Alice – I really can’t tell the difference between unknown female pop singers and this song is the perfect example. From the bland singing and god-awful instrumentation, I would’ve thought this was Halsey or Tove Lo or some other singer we’re all going to forget about in five years.

“You Got Me” by Gavin DeGraw – My sister loves Gavin DeGraw, and because this terrible song was made for the freaking DOLPHIN TALE 2 SOUNDTRACK, I will never know why. The singing was boring, the production was way too loud, and the lyrics were laughable. I guess I’ll never understand, sis.